Southwestern Conn. deemed 'unfriendly' in small-biz survey

Keila Torres Ocasio

Updated 11:53 pm, Wednesday, July 30, 2014

A report released this year by WalletHub catalogs the best and worst places for employees of small businesses, listing the Bridgeport Metropolitan Area (which includes the same footprint as the whole of Fairfield County) as one of the nation’s hotspots. Click through for the top 20 cities for small business employees.

The Bridgeport metropolitan area, which encompasses most of Fairfield County, is among the top five most-unfriendly areas in the nation for small businesses, and the state as a whole doesn't fare much better.

Those were the results of a survey released this week by Thumbtack.com, which helps connect professionals with potential customers, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The online poll of just 57 small businesses in the county asked businesses to rate how friendly or unfriendly the state or local government was in terms of business regulations, health and safety regulations, tax-related regulations and zoning regulations, among other things.

The Bridgeport metro area received an F and was ranked the fourth-worst among the 82 metropolitan areas examined. Sacramento, Calif., Providence, R.I., and Buffalo, N.Y. were named the top three worst and San Diego, Calif., rounded out the top five.

"I don't know what to make of it," said Joseph McGee, vice president of public policy and programs for the Business Council of Fairfield County. "I guess my reaction is I want to get a copy of it to really look at it. The issue of small business wanting more attention from state government has always been an issue. But (the study) is so broad, like with the regulations. What regulations?"

McGee said the only area in which Bridgeport excelled -- it got an A+ for ease of hiring -- is actually one of the areas small businesses here complain about the most. He said he often hears that small businesses can't get the workers with the labor skills they need.

The study did find that female business owners here felt more optimistic about the local economy than their male counterparts.

Both Hartford and New Haven fared only slightly better than Bridgeport, with scores of D+. Connecticut received a D. Timpanelli said the state needs to do more to unburden the business community by reducing regulations, taxes and expenses.

McGee said small businesses in the state have come forward with their own sets of issues over the years, but he noted that more small businesses are also constantly being created.

"It's hard to see how we get a D," he said. "If we're so bad why are people starting small businesses here?"

Overall, the survey garnered nearly 13,000 responses from businesses throughout the nation. But because the respondents were users of the website, Thumbtack said the overall national sample is under-representative of the agricultural, retail and manufacturing sectors.